Dr Chang Tou Liang, Artistic Director of the Singapore International Piano Festival, makes a pilgrimage to West Yorkshire to attend the Leeds International Pianoforte Competition.
One of the world’s great piano competitions, the 2006 edition takes place from 6 to 24 September. This is his personal blog, brought to you exclusively by The Flying Inkpot.
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Words by Chang Tou Liang
Preamble
Some years ago, I made a promise to myself to attend at least one of the “Big Five” in the world league of international piano competitions. With no disrespect to my friends in Sydney, Salt Lake City, Hong Kong and London, that mighty fistful belongs to the concours held in Moscow, Warsaw, Brussels, Forth Worth and Leeds.
Why this prestige? Simply because these five are among the most established, have the backing of history and the proudest track record of producing some of the world’s great pianists. The likes of Van Cliburn, John Ogdon, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Grigori Sokolov, Mikhail Pletnev, Maurizio Pollini, Martha Argerich, Krystian Zimerman, Leon Fleisher, Radu Lupu and Murray Perahia were 1st prizewinners in these, and remain enshrined in their proud and august history.
The Leeds stands out by having the most prizewinners performing recitals and concertos in Singapore within the last 20 years or so. I shall name them: Rafael Orozco (1966), Murray Perahia (1972), Dmitri Alexeev (1975), Myung-Whun Chung (1975), Lydia Artimiw (1978), Peter Donohoe (1981), Jon Kimura Parker (1984), Juh Hee Suh (1984), Vladimir Ovchinikov (1987), Noriko Ogawa (1987), Boris Berezovsky (1987), Artur Pizarro (1990) and Lars Vogt (1990) have all performed here in recent memory. Not to mention the “losers” at Leeds, many of whom have made good their musical and performing careers thereafter.
Pondering
A visit to Leeds would thus be a chance to witness history in the making. But 10 days in West Yorkshire? What would I be doing when there is no music? After all, this isn’t London, Sydney or Hong Kong, where sightseeing opportunities abound.
Surfing the internet and preparing this series of articles for The Flying Inkpot, I did a Google news search. And guess what?
Leeds + International + Piano + Competition = 3 articles,
only one (from a Leeds newspaper) pertained directly to the competition.
Peter + Crouch (The footballer) = 2,440 articles
Paris + Hilton (The heiress) = 4,660 articles
Osama + bin + Laden = 10,300 articles
Is this the sad state of affairs of classical music today? What is the world coming to?
Competition of champions
“There are no losers at Leeds,” once remarked its founder and guiding light Dame Fanny Waterman. The octagenarian piano teacher, and now guru of piano competitions, is as active as ever and answers every e-mail sent to her. It was her vision to bring the world’s top young pianistic talent into her hometown, an industrial city better known for its once-mighty football team Leeds United F.C (A short interview with Dame Fanny will follow later in these pages.)
Now in its 16th edition and looking at the list of competitors assembled at Leeds, it is certainly an impressive bunch. Within the 81 names, several 1st prizewinners at recent competitions stand out.
Jie Chen (China) – 1st prize, Piano-e-Competition (Minneapolis) 2004
Chu-Fang Huang (China) – 1st prize, Cleveland International Piano Competition 2005
Spencer Myer (USA) – 1st prize, UNISA Piano Competition (South Africa) 2004
Roberto Plano (Italy) - 1st prize, Cleveland International Piano Competition 2001
Andrey Ponochevny (Belarus) – 1st prize, William Kapell Competition (Maryland) 1998
Siheng Song (China) – 1st prize, Marguerite Long Piano Competition 2004
Jue Wang (China) – 1st prize, Maria Canals Piano Competition (Barcelona) 2005
Di Wu (China) – 1st prize, Hilton Head Piano Competition (South Carolina) 2004
Chen Xin Xu (China) – 1st prize, China National Piano Competition 2003
Some of the pianists already have CDs in their own name:
Boris Giltburg (Russia) – playing Mussorgsky, Scriabin & Prokofiev (on EMI Classics)
Adam Neiman (USA) – playing Rachmaninov (VAI Audio)
Roberto Plano (Italy) – playing Liszt (Azica)
Di Wu (China) – playing Debussy, Liszt and Brahms (her own label)
Daniel de Borah (Australia) – playing Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No.2 (ABC Classics)
Maria Mazo (Germany/Russia) – on the DVD issued by the Van Cliburn Competition
Several others also appear on CDs issued by the Sydney International Piano Competition of Australia.
Trivia and gossip
The statistics of this competition are mind-boggling.
33 of the pianists are Asian or of Asian ethnicity.
7 of the 13 pianists from USA and Canada are Asians.
Russia has the most pianists (13), closely followed by China (11) and Korea (10).
The most common surname is Kim (4, all Korean), followed by Wu (3, all Chinese).
Two Chinese pianists of different sex have the same name:
Jue Wang and Mimi Jue Wang.
One pianist took part at Leeds exactly ten years ago, in 1996: Elizabeth Joy Roe (USA) (pictured left)
Her publicity photo at the 2006 AXA Dublin International Piano Competition was identical to the one in the 1996 Leeds programme book (spot the difference!).
One pianist (best left unnamed) was found to have edited her audition CD at the recently concluded Villa-Lobos International Piano Competition in Sao Paulo, one wracked by scandal and intrigue. Did she edit her audition CD at Leeds as well?
Only one Asian has won 1st prize at Leeds, Jon Kimura Parker (Canada) in 1984. Others who have come close include Mitsuko Uchida, Myung Whun-Chung, Etsuko Terada, Juh Hee Suh, Junko Otake, Noriko Ogawa, HaeSun Paik, Sa Chen, Yuma Osaki and Chang Chiao Ying. Judging by the preponderance of Asian pianists, the presence of 3 Chinese judges on the jury, and an impending concert tour of China for the winner, could this year’s winner be a Chinese?
Watch this space.
N.B. The writer will be writing from Leeds from the semi-final stage, which commences on 17 September.
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Competition of champions
One pianist took part at Leeds exactly ten years ago, in 1996: Elizabeth Joy Roe (USA) (pictured left) 
One pianist (best left unnamed) was found to have edited her audition CD at the recently concluded Villa-Lobos International Piano Competition in Sao Paulo, one wracked by scandal and intrigue. Did she edit her audition CD at Leeds as well?
More Inkpot! 
Unnatural Acts of Opera - by La Cieca